John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men explores themes of morality and masculinity through its many male characters. With the use of hegemonic masculinity theory, this essay analyzes how different elements of masculinity are characterized, constructed, and valued in relation to one another. Masculinity is defined by a utilitarian sense of purpose, systematic loss, and homosocial desire in Of Mice and Men. The men in this novella yearn for connection and meaning, in contrast to the inevitable nature of violence presented in the novella. Ending the life of an animal or a man that has lost its purpose is considered a compassionate and unavoidable act. In this way, hegemonic masculinity in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice in Men is defined by a duality of homosocial desire and utilitarian violence.

“‘Freakish Man’: sexual blues, sacred beliefs, and the transformation of Black queer identity, 1870-1959” investigates how queer Black men expressed their gender and sexual identities. It follows how, from the days of Reconstruction to the modern civil rights movement, queer Black men used various aspects of Black culture—particularly the blues, working-class social culture, and charismatic religion—to form identities that departed from dominant Black and white norms. The “freakish man” emerged as queer Black men cultivated legible, subversive gender and sexual identities in sacred and secular spaces of working-class Black culture that prioritized masculine heterosexuality. Though queer Black men were briefly successful in using their status as taboo but enticing social figures to enter the center of Black culture, they were gradually marginalized by the Black community as it moved towards inclusion into mainstream American society.